So I had a little time on my hands last night and (still being on graveyard shift time) I watched a little Cable TV. You know, those cable movie channels like Showtime that show movies I've never heard of, over and over again?

Well, they were showing this movie called HOSTEL on two of the channels. I started watching not having a clue as to what this was about or what I was in for. By the time it was over I felt I needed to shower.

I looked this flick up on the 'Net and to my surprise it was a worldwide smash hit! It grossed 20 million the first week in the USA. Never heard of it before. It was so violent and degrading to the human spirit I couldn't understand the message (if any). Was it that Americans are so stupid they deserved to be slaughtered? Or was it that middle Europe is so degraded that they would slay people for money? Not one minute of joy or anything life affirming in the entire movie. Quentin Tarantino probably loves it.

Sigh. Maybe I'm just old fashioned but I can't see the reason for the existence of this movie.

Don't know what to even say here Steve without sounding like I just jumped out of the 50's myself.

I cant stand these kind of shock flicks.I'm not sure where the entertainment lies?Though, admittedly, I am not a fan of horror movies in general I can remember watching Frankenstien and finding a message or some empathy with the character.I can still remember he scene with the little girl giving the monster the flower.It awoke something in me that contributed to my growth.The few times I have watched movies like Hostel I feel a drain on my humanity.

I don't know if it has a message other than a possible reflection of the degree of acceptance of degradation and violence by society.

I work nights so I can relate to late hours.I watched a documentary last night on a local college station here about folks that were living just before WW2 broke out.Pretty in depth,showing their families history and what they were doing as kids before the war happened.And then later as they were drafted and served.How it changed them and such. Interesting show.There was a lot of violence in this documentary.Pictures that were horrific.And things done to people that are unexplainable to me.But it was for a purpose and told a story that needs to be remembered.

But a "Hostel" type movie?I find myself tolerating many new movies less and less these days.

Never saw the first one but did end up seeing the second one a couple weeks back on a double bill with the new Halloween. Went with a sixteen year old niece who just loves these types of flicks. She thought Hostel 2 had some interesting moments but wasn't worth watching again. I just take them for the grossout flicks they are and don't search for anything deeper.

Hostel is one of the worst movies ever made! And this is coming from a fan of the genre AND of Eli Roth as well. The movie is just lacking in every aspect of filmmaking--it's just not good.

HOWEVER, Hostel 2 is excellent. It's funny, gorey, stupid, and the story is actually interesting.

The biggest roadblock that you have to get over when you watch Eli Roth's filmmaking is to NOT take this man seriously. For an example, go watch Cabin Fever. It's a cult classic, but if you take it seriously, you'll hate it. Roth is a crazy pervert with a weird sense of humor. If you can get into that, you'll enjoy his films. If not, then maybe the twisted comedy horror genre is just not for you

Well, I'll be the one brave soul on this thread and admit that I enjoyed it to a degree. It was going so far out of its way to be offensive that I found it to be funny. But I have a warped sense of humor. I didn't find it offensive; in fact I've never been offended by a film's violent content. The one movie I've seen a couple of times where I really felt like I wanted to take a shower was the rape sequence in Straw Dogs. I found that harder to take than anything in Hostel.

When I was a kid, I saw all those 70s exploitation films like I Spit On Your Grave, Last House on the Left, Bloodsucking Freaks, etc and Hostel kind of belongs in that category. You have to remember, these are cult movies and you either get some enjoyment out of it or you don't. Not many people do...which makes Hostel's worldwide success entirely difficult to explain.

HOWEVER, Hostel 2 is excellent. It's funny, gorey, stupid, and the story is actually interesting.

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I didn't care much for Hostel 2 at all. In some ways, it was so bad it was good but mostly I thought it was pretty bad. It was kind of funny watching a couple of guys in their mid to late 40s calling each other "dude" for 90 minutes though! I think the coolest stuff was Roth's tribute to 70s Italian horror with cameos by (sigh) Edwige Fenech and Ruggero Deodato.

Well, I'll be the one brave soul on this thread and admit that I enjoyed it to a degree. It was going so far out of its way to be offensive that I found it to be funny. But I have a warped sense of humor. I didn't find it offensive; in fact I've never been offended by a film's violent content. The one movie I've seen a couple of times where I really felt like I wanted to take a shower was the rape sequence in Straw Dogs. I found that harder to take than anything in Hostel.

When I was a kid, I saw all those 70s exploitation films like I Spit On Your Grave, Last House on the Left, Bloodsucking Freaks, etc and Hostel kind of belongs in that category. You have to remember, these are cult movies and you either get some enjoyment out of it or you don't. Not many people do...which makes Hostel's worldwide success entirely difficult to explain.

Of the recent more "hard-core" horror movies -- I'm thinking Devil's Rejects, High Tension, Hills Have Eyes, Hostels, Wolf Creek -- the only one I didn't like at all was Wolf Creek. I think the consensus about Hostel on this board based on this thread (which I'm against, btw) would be right on point with respect to Wolf Creek.

I can't say I've ever had the desire to sit through it. When the TV spot was running, I became angry just seeing it. "People pay money to see this?!" Just don't get it. I have a friend who watched the first 40 minutes, and when the torture stuff started, he took the disc out of the player and threw it across the room.

I thought it was OK myself; unlike a lot of "torture porn" movies it at least set up the characters somewhat and had some interesting ideas to drive the plot (trading on the fear of the foreign, the idea of the "ugly American" overseas, the decadence that would permit such a service to exist, and indeed the "kill for $" service itself). Not like Wolf Creek, a movie that came out at the same time and to which it was often compared. That movie was just dull, dull, dull...40+ minutes of meandering "setup" and a violent-yet-dull ending where the kids are killed off by the standard omnipotent boogeyman. Zzzzz. :thumbsdn:

I guess it's the power of suggestion - but under normal circumstances I would never go out of my way to watch a movie like the SAW series or HOSTEL series, yet two of my friends went on and on about both. They loved them and kept prodding me that I should definitely watch them, they shouldn't be missed - I guess the enthusiam they had for the movies (not sure why) peaked my interest.

A friend of mine lent me his copies of the SAW movies and HOSTEL. I watched them all, and as much as I wouldn't normally be able to sit through those type of "violent" movies I found that it wasn't as horrifying as I thought??? I guess they are so over the top and so out there, that the reality of the violence turns into a cartoon of itself. It almost becomes laughable.

HOSTEL 2 I haven't seen yet, and won't see (unless my friend decides to get a copy and lend it to me).

Weird - movies like this used to make me sick, but I guess watching them (and others like them) I have become desensitized to the "horror" and just find them to be a mindless diversion that I would never watch again after seeing it once.

It would be interesting if they made a movie about the people who like these kind of movies going to a seminar with the people who make these kind of movies and they find themselves locked in a room with the kind of people depicted in these kind of movies. Horror and mayhem are the result.